I thought that Nicks had had a pretty peaceful parting with the Giants, due to injuries that he could not overcome. This clip jogged my memory. He was accused of not trying hard to get ready for the season, skipping minicamps, sitting it out through long periods of practice. The weird thing about this is that it was his contract year. What a year to not want to impress.
Nicks had one last shot with the Colts, but it was the wrong situation. Luck's No. 1 guy, T.Y. Hilton, caught passes for over 1300 years, veteran Reggie Wayne was the next most thrown to, and TE Coby Fleener the third. Those few times Nicks had the ball thrown to him, it was kind of like with Golladay. He was the expensive free agent who wasn't doing enough.
Run him out of town. - (
New Window )
I do remember his final season in NY before he moved on to the Colts. I know his wheels were damaged, but it seemed he lost the basic ability to catch the ball. That, along with alligator arms. I can understand not being able to get much separtion at that point, but when the ball hit him in the hands he just couldn't catch. It was puzzling and sad.
He didn’t do much for the Colts that season and was out of football. We re-signed him in either 2015 or 2017 (can’t recall which) and he did nothing for us, even lined up opposite of OBJ. I saw the Giants x Dolphins game that year in Miami and watched him, as he started for us (was a Thurs. night game). OBJ had a monster game and Nicks did nothing. He couldn’t even get open on single coverage and Eli never even looked at him. It was so weird. FMIC swears that Nicks’s compartment syndrome is what causes Nicks deterioration. But that explanation never made sense to me, as that happened in 2010, and Nicks balled out afterwards until the Tampa game in 2012 when his knee got banged against the turf. Imv, he was never the same after that Tampa game.
Career highlights - ( New Window )
Nicks and Cruz didn’t have long careers, but they both made their mark in one of the NFL‘s oddest seasons. What were the odds of the Giants winning the Super Bowl when they were playing a mediocre game against the mediocre Jets. Then Cruz caught the 99 yard touchdown pass, and they went on to beat Dallas in two of the last three regular season games, and the Packers, Niners and Patriots. As good as those two were, it was Mario Manningham, who made the biggest catch in the 2012 Super Bowl, just as it was David Tyree, who made the biggest catch four years earlier.
I've never quite understood the connection between his 2010 injury, and his career ending. He had the best year of his career in 2011.
Quote:
FMIC swears that Nicks’s compartment syndrome is what causes Nicks deterioration. But that explanation never made sense to me, as that happened in 2010, and Nicks balled out afterwards until the Tampa game in 2012 when his knee got banged against the turf. Imv, he was never the same after that Tampa game.
I've never quite understood the connection between his 2010 injury, and his career ending. He had the best year of his career in 2011.
Agree.
As others here said, the foot issue seems to be the culprit.
This site catalogued his injuries. His left side took a beating.
https://www.draftsharks.com/fantasy/injury-history/hakeem-nicks/7628
He didn’t do much for the Colts that season and was out of football. We re-signed him in either 2015 or 2017 (can’t recall which) and he did nothing for us, even lined up opposite of OBJ. I saw the Giants x Dolphins game that year in Miami and watched him, as he started for us (was a Thurs. night game). OBJ had a monster game and Nicks did nothing. He couldn’t even get open on single coverage and Eli never even looked at him. It was so weird. FMIC swears that Nicks’s compartment syndrome is what causes Nicks deterioration. But that explanation never made sense to me, as that happened in 2010, and Nicks balled out afterwards until the Tampa game in 2012 when his knee got banged against the turf. Imv, he was never the same after that Tampa game.
I agree with this: "Nicks balled out afterwards until the Tampa game in 2012 when his knee got banged against the turf. Imv, he was never the same after that Tampa game."
He wasn’t ever a speed guy, but he had a pretty good burst and had decent moves to make guys miss after the catch. His hands were elite, had a good catch radius and was very physical at the point of the catch. Heck of a player…wish he could’ve stayed healthy because he’d be in the ring of honor and probably hold a few NYG records.
Between Nicks, Cruz, Steve Smith, Odell and Plax - and even Shep- Giants have had awful injury luck with their homegrown receivers.
After that Super Bowl, the Giants got a collective 2.5 total good season from that group.
Manningham left to SF, Ballard never played another down of meaningful football, Cruz played well in 2012/2013 and then was shot, Nicks played well the first part of 2012 and then was shot.
Nicks was the WR who made it all work for the skill guys. Cruz's y/r dropped by 6 yards and not sure he would ever have been a high end 1 but he was a excellent 2.
It was not a extraordinary group outside Nicks. The TC/KG offense cycled through a good number of TE's. When Ballard was hurt in the SB, Pascoe came in and had a impact. The Giants also ran well in the playoffs and the SB which was the opposite of the regular season which was the worst in the NFL. The old OL found a way outside SF.
Really what the injury exposed was poor team building and the lack of a high quality OL that the Giants are still trying to address.
I don't recall the Nicks attitude mentioned in the OP. Perhaps he knew the severity of the injury and was trying to get paid. Always seemed like a good guy and teammate and a shame that injury happened.